Michal KurlaenderProfessor, Chair of the Graduate Group in Education, and Chancellor’s Fellow

Michal Kurlaender investigates students’ educational pathways, in particular K-12 and postsecondary alignment, and access to and success in postsecondary schooling. She has expertise on alternative pathways to college and college readiness at both community colleges and four-year colleges and universities. In addition to working with national data, Kurlaender works closely with administrative data from all three of California’s public higher education sectors–the University of California, the California State University and the California Community College systems.

Kurlaender also studies the impact of racial and ethnic diversity on student outcomes. She is an expert on the dismantling of federal mandatory and voluntary K-12 school desegregation plans and persistent inequalities in segregated minority schools, including access to adequate classroom resources and good teachers. She has worked with several school districts that have undergone major changes in enrollment as a result of legal challenges.

Reports and Presentations

Kurlaender, M., and Jackson, J. (September 2013). Identifying Indicators of College Readiness and Success. Presentation to the Advisory Committee for the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) of 1999. Download slides below.

Professor Michal Kurlaender continues to be one of the leading university-based scholars who are doing the most to influence educational policy and practice in the United States. This is the third consecutive year that she has been included in the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings published in Education Week. Kurlaender’s ranking as one of the top 200 scholars among more than 20,000 education faculty in the United States is a testament to her impact on the field of education.

Washington Post – January 28, 2014

President Obama’s proposal to make community colleges free is a valiant effort to address the rising demand for skilled workers throughout the nation and to improve college access for low-income students. As states consider his proposal, they would be wise to look to California. Our research in the state suggests that low tuition can put higher education within reach for many low-income students, but it is no panacea. Read more.

Michal Kurlaender is an associate professor of education and Chancellor’s Fellow at UC Davis. Jacob Jackson is a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Associate Professor Michal Kurlaender has been named a co-director of Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), an independent, nonpartisan research center based at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, the University of Southern California, and UC Davis.

PACE seeks to define and sustain a long-term strategy for comprehensive policy reform and continuous improvement in performance at all levels of California’s education system, from early childhood to postsecondary education and training. Learn more about PACE at http://www.edpolicyinca.org/.

Michal Kurlaender, associate professor of education, has joined an elite group of UC Davis faculty members named 2013-14 Chancellor’s Fellows. The honor recognizes outstanding records of achievement among early career faculty. Each fellow receives a $25,000 prize to support his or her research, teaching and service activities. Kurlaender retains the title of Chancellor’s Fellow until July 1, 2018. The Davis Chancellor’s Club and the university’s Annual Fund support the program.

University of California-eligible students with weaker high school grades and test scores typically fared about as well, after four years in college, as higher-ranking students who were admitted, according to a new University of California, Davis, study.

Michal Kurlaender, associate professor in the UC Davis School of Education and Matthew F. Larsen, a postdoctoral teaching fellow in economics at Tulane University, recently released a study on how high school achievement tests can be good predictors of how students will fare in community college. The researchers also point out a “disturbing” achievement gap, with Latino and black students being less likely than their Asian and white peers to take and pass transfer-level college courses. And that the gap occurs even among students who performed well on their high school tests. Read Paul Fain’s article at Inside Higher Ed.

Federal and state leaders need to focus more on policies that improve educational attainment and college and career success and less on test scores

In November, the U.S. Department of Education released new high school graduation rates for each state, using what the department called a “common, rigorous measure.” The picture is bleak for California, which ranks 32 among other states in high school completion. More troubling are the persistent disparities between racial/ethnic groups; white graduation rate is 85 percent, whereas Latino and African American graduation rates are 70 percent and 63 percent respectively.

The School of Education’ Center for Applied Policy in Education (CAP-Ed), in partnership with the Poverty Research Center at UC Davis, hosted leading education advocates in panel discussion about education policy in California and the ramifications of the November election on school finance in the state. “Education Policymaking in a Time of Uncertainty: Reflections from the Third House” was organized by Michal Kurlaender, associate professor of education policy and leadership. View the discussion online.

School of Education Professor Michal Kurlaender explained that colleges (both state and community colleges) are eager to see the new Common Core Standards in place in hopes that they will better align instruction in K-12 with higher education and improve college readiness among incoming freshman. Kurlaender is an expert on student readiness and success in higher education. Read the whole article here.

Michal Kurlaender, associate professor, looks at the impact of ending affirmative action in a new post on the Harvard University’s Voices in Education blog.

“Disparities by race/ethnicity in college enrollments, postsecondary destinations, and degree attainment remain striking. Higher education may not have created these inequalities, but it should confront them head on in making decisions about eligibility, admission, and financial aid,” writes Kurlaender. Read more about Michal Kurlaender’s research at her profile.

June 2010 – Michal Kurlaender, an associate professor in the School of Education, has been awarded a $1.8 million federal grant to study a unique California program established six years ago to help high school students better prepare for college.

The National Academy of Education has awarded Michal Kurlaender a Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship in recognition of her significant contributions to education research. Spencer’s program supports early career scholars working in critical ares of education. The program also develops the careers of its recipients through professional development activities involving the National Academy of Education members.

For Michal Kurlaender, conducting “research that matters” means tackling some of the most vexing and controversial problems in education: school desegregation and integration, access to college, and race.